I love Jersey Shore as much as the next well-educated Midwesterner – and with as much guilt. I also get a thrill seeing people get thinner on The Biggest Loser, and cackle with delight at every shot of Mary Murphy’s super-Botoxed facehole on So You Think You Can Dance.
Opinion
Opinions from our editorial board and contributors.
RIGHT MINDED: Opting out of QPIRG
I refuse to hand over a penny of my money to the Quebec Public Interest Research Group. The McGill chapter of QPIRG collects a student fee of $3.75 per semester from all McGill undergraduate students. They use those funds to support working groups who advocate for “social and environmental justice.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Oh Ricky you’re so fine
Re: “That evaluation you requested” by Ricky Kreitner (19.01.10) Yes, Ricky, the world is that simple. Professors are desperately hanging on to the words of students so that they can “cater to [your] petty whims.” There’s no way that they might take some advice – “integrate the lectures more with the readings” or “spend more time on the anatomy section of the course and less on the functional part” – while disregarding that kid who never showed up’s advice to “like, slow way down in lecture.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Gaza Remembrance Week
Our history books are filled with stained pages that compel us to criticize our predecessors for their inaction and failure to implement changes, in the hope that we will not repeat our errors and allow for the recurrence of human rights violations. From Apartheid South Africa to the massacres of Rwanda, we have time and again failed to learn from history.
OFF THE BOARD: My beef with Schwartz’s
For 21 years I did the best I could to remain kosher as my parents raised me. The tradition was, and still is, a cornerstone of my dietary identity. But the allure of Montreal’s most renowned non-kosher Hebrew delicatessen – so famous that it appears as a landmark on Google Maps – was too much to resist.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Not AMUSEd
In last week’s editorial, you stated that AMUSE – The Association of McGill University Support Employees – left some students “in the dark” by failing to adequately contact all potential voters. Out of respect for the newly accredited members of the bargaining unit and the supporters who spent countless hours contacting the eligible voters, I feel it is necessary to correct some blatantly incorrect facts you stated about the voting procedure.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Brendan is simple-minded
Brendan Steven’s column “Right Minded: Defending Prorogation” is a good example of the limited nature of Steven’s political opinions. His blind reverence for everything the Harper government does is demonstrative of the same sort of extremeness that he attempts to delegitimize in his column.
BLACK & WHITE: This mortal coil
Existential crises are as awkward to talk about as bowel movements. In a milieu that celebrates irony more than sincerity, any attempt to be philosophical is either going to make me resemble an overeager, emo teenager, or an indecipherable, pompous intellectual, and I’m not sure which I’ll end up sounding like in this column.
Helping Haiti: doing our part for the relief effort
It has been one week since an earthquake measuring 7.0 in magnitude struck near Port-au-Prince, Haiti, devastating the country’s infrastructure and sparking a humanitarian disaster. The Red Cross has confirmed that 50,000 people are dead, while Haitian officials say the death toll could be as high as 200,000.
PIÑATA DIPLOMACY: That evaluation you requested
You may recall many professors, in the last days of the fall semester, prostrating themselves before Canada Goose-clad undergraduates, begging shamelessly for feedback – any feedback – via Minerva-submitted course evaluations. A philosophy professor offered to bring in cookies of indisputable quality should at least 60 per cent of students submit evaluations.
